Overview

The document describes how to install and use the Openbravo PDA Module – the extension of Openbravo POS with version 2.30 and newer by the end user.

Introduction

The autonomy and flexibility make PDAs a very useful tool to work in a restaurant. It allows to take orders at the table so at the end to have the food delivered with amazing speed of service. Thereby increasing table turns and customer throughput.

Most recently, restaurant software companies have taken advantage of the PDA craze and their technology and have adapted their software to these devices. Screens have become larger and now can display entire menus.

Some of the most important advantages:

Dramatically increased speed of service for your customer.

Greater customer service because your servers/waiters do not have to leave the floor to place orders.

Increased table turns because of faster service.

Increased customer throughput in Quick Service.

Wait on more tables per waiter. More time on the floor equals more ability to handle additional tables.

Increase manager efficiency.

This last aspect is one that seems minor but at the end will bring the biggest change. The style of your business. Technology could transform your business from a traditional restaurant into a new modern establishment.

PDA workflow in a restaurant

The module was created and tested using an iPod touch device. Any PDAs might be used however the all layout settings match the Apple devices (iPod Touch or iPhone). If you want to run the module on a different device some changes might be required in CSS file that is responsible for the layout

The PDA module binaries come in two flawors. An all-in-one PDA module that includes the web application and the HTTP server and servlet containter Jetty, that allows to run the PDA module easily. And the web application file with .war extension intended to be deployed in the HTTP server and servlet container of your choice like Apache Tomcat or Glassfish.

Before you start your server you should be sure that everything is set up correctly:

Database settings

Pda module only supports the following databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle

Pda module needs openbravopos.properties file to read the database settings. So it means that Openbravo POS must be set up correctly before starting the pda module. If Openbravo POS and the server are going to run on the same machine the file can be found in ${user.home} folder. In case that Openbravo POS and the server are on different machines you should copy the openbravo.propiertes file to the ${user.home} folder on the machine where the server is installed.

Database connector

Configuring Openbravo POS at the first time you have to specify the database connector. That connector is required by Pda module too. You should copy that connector to ${server_folder}/lib folder. For example jetty/lib.

Since the database is set up the server can be extracted into your desired destination and start.

Start web server and servlet container

All-in-one PDA module

On Linux

Start the terminal and navigate to the server folder. There you should type:

chmod +x start.sh

and

./start.sh

On Windows

Go to the server folder and double click on start.bat

After that you should see something similar to that:

Web application PDA module

If you are using other HTTP server and servlet container than Jetty you should read the guides provided by vendors to install.

Then you have to deploy the web application. Usually you only have to copy the Web application PDA module .war file into the web applications folder of the HTTP server and servlet container used.

The final step is to start the HTTP server and servlet container and test the PDA module.

Run the PDA module

To run the PDA module open the web browser in the device and go to the following address

Where <server_name_or_IP_address> is the server name or IP address of the machine where the HTTP server and servlet container is running, <port> is the port where the server is listening and <version> is the version number of the PDA module.

Login

The users and password are the same like in Openbravo POS. However you should be careful by specifying passwords in Openbravo POS. The panel that manages password works like a mobile phone keyboard. You can specify if you want to write numbers, letters or capital letters. So the password might be totally different that we think is. For example using mode abc1 typing 2345 we will get the password adgj that we should type in the pda module.

If you cannot log on and you are sure the user's id and its password are correct it means that there is no connection with the database. You should check if everything is set up correctly regarding to the points above.

User Inteface

Below you can see the screencasts from the pda module running on iPod touch. Navigation is very intuitive and if you are familiar with Openbravo POS you should not have any problems with it.

Customization

User Inteface

We developed the Pda module on Apple devices. We recommend to use them for the
module. However if you would like to use other device than iPod touch or iPhone you should probably would have to do some changes in the layout.

Each device owns a different screen size and it is not possible to create universal settings. The changes can be done without compiling, so after any changes you should only refresh the page too see changes that you have made.

The CSS file that manages almost all layout settings can be found in <server_folder>/webapps/openbravopos_2.30_pda/layout.css

Context

By default the context of the Pda module is openbravopos_${version}_pda. If you want to change it you should just alter the name of the war file in jetty/webapps folder. After restarting the server you will be able to use your own specified context.

Development

If you would like to make some changes in the code you could obtain the sources and work with them. Follow the guide to get the sources and import them into a project in Netbeans